


The Half-Elf Filled with Flowers

by Oddaudrey



Series: Half-Siblings Campaign Stories [1]
Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game)
Genre: Gen, Hanahaki Disease, Origin Story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-12
Updated: 2020-04-12
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:20:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23613676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oddaudrey/pseuds/Oddaudrey
Summary: Juniper's youth and his fate gifted to him by the Ki-Rin of Lotus Sanctum
Series: Half-Siblings Campaign Stories [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1699720
Kudos: 1





	The Half-Elf Filled with Flowers

Juniper had very few memories of his mother, and most of the memories he did have were so awfully sad that he rarely wished to remember them. 

For four years of his life, there was only her. She was his sole provider in life, very occasionally Juniper would see her interact with his grandfather. His grandfather never seemed very happy with her, occasionally going off on long-winded rants. 

“I thought raised you better, Cypress. Plenty of men from this village have asked for your hand and you pick a man who leaves you with a bastard son!” Grandfather would yell. 

“That’s an awful thing to say, Juniper is a wonderful boy, he’s intuitive and smart and everything I could ever want out of a child.” His mother would retort, “How could you say such cruel things about your own grandchild?”

“I love Juniper, I really do, but I worry about his well-being. What I say is the truth, he is a bastard son and he is a half-elf. You don’t think it will be difficult for him to find his place in the world as he grows older?” His grandfather spoke back, “He’s smart for a child, don’t you think he’s already wondered why he doesn’t have a father.” 

His mother would become silent and meek. Juniper would never show any indication that he knew of these familial spats because he didn’t want to make the matters worse, they fought about him after all, and whoever his father was. 

His mother was known as Cypress the songstress, she would often recite heroic poems as she played her koto in the middle of their town’s square. Her proficient skill at the stringed instrument accompanied by her siren-like singing voice made her very popular, and Juniper had seen many a man attempt to woo her, accompanied with the promise of treating Juniper ‘as their own’. 

Cypress always denied them, insisting that she had already found her true love and it didn’t matter to her that he was no longer with her, her heart still belonged to him…Wherever he was. 

Cypress had always insisted that Juniper’s father wasn’t in there life for a ‘good reason’, that he was doing what was necessary and would most likely someday return to meet his son.

Juniper believed every word she ever told him, how could he not? His mother was his everything. 

What Juniper’s grandfather said was true, it was rather difficult for him to be the only half-elf in the village. He was teased repeatedly for it, and there was always that lingering sense that he would never truly belong in his supposed ‘home’, but these matters were never brought to his mother. How could he explain his unhappiness when he was otherwise his mother’s rock, the one thing keeping her confident that her love in his father wasn’t misguided…

Then the disease struck. 

It was bizarre, never before had an illness such as Hanahaki Disease spread so quickly. 

The clerics said that it was a truly bizarre epidemic, Hanahaki was an often isolated disease that prayed upon the unrequited, but nearly every elf in the village was suffering from the disease. 

It revenged without mercy, a disease once believed to not be contagious was affecting nearly everyone. Those who seemed perfectly content in life would try and care for their afflicted love one and slowly begin to feel melancholy, then that melancholy turned into despair, and that despair characterized itself in an influx of flower petals in the lungs. 

Cypress had gotten sick with Hanahaki Disease not long after his grandfather succumbed. 

While his grandfather had called out for his late grandmother as he died, his mother cried a name Juniper couldn’t recognize, so it had to be his father’s. 

The village looked so deathly and yet so beautiful. While there were plenty of unburied dead littering the streets, there were many flower petals as well of all different colors. The petals flowed through the wind, making the village colorful and yet so grim. 

Most of the children of the village had become orphans overnight and lived under the care of the local clerics. Cypress had tearfully began to prepare Juniper for that possibility as she could feel herself struggling to breathe with his lungs clogged with flowers and wrapped in vines, but something strange occurred… 

Juniper began to show similar symptoms.

As soon as Juniper coughed up his first flower petal, his mother gathered him into her arms and began a long hike up the mountainside where the Lotus Sanctum resided, a monastery inhabited by elven monks. 

Cypress herself was dying, but she somehow still made it to the monastery while just barely clinging to life, her child by her side, looking pale and barely breathing. 

Juniper was also just barely alive, struggling to breathe and every time he did he felt as though thorns were digging into his body. He just barely cracked open his eyes to see the monastery, it’s walls entirely made of brilliant white marble, multiple small pools beside it with plenty of plant life. 

Strangely enough, by the mountain of the mountain, by the rocks that the monastery was built by, Juniper saw a peculiar creature. It almost looked like a horse, but not quite, it had horns and a face that looked like no horse he’s ever seen. The creature looked at him, and quickly disappeared as if it was never there to begin with. 

Not long after the strange event, Cypress was spotted and a few monks came running over to her aid. 

“Pay no mind to me…” Cypress spoke through struggled breaths, “My child, please help him. Hanahaki has struck him…”

“Hanahaki? But he’s a mere child?” The older monk was perplexed, “What kind of unrequited love could a child possibly feel?” 

“His father…” Cypress spoke, and then all of the monks knew and looked at each other with sympathetic expressions. 

“This truly is an unusual case, but we’ll do the best we can.” The younger monk took Juniper out of his mother’s arms and held him in his own, “What are your names?”

Cypress weakly placed a hand against Juniper’s pale cheeks, Juniper could no longer keep his eyes open and he let them slide shut, unbeknownst to him this would be the last time he heard his mother’s voice. 

“Juniper…” she said, her voice barely above a whisper, it faded out like a dream…

Cypress died not long after that. 

The monks buried her in their own private cemetery. Juniper was shown it once he was strong enough to venture outside. 

For a week, Juniper received constant treatment from the monks to cure his ailment. Even with the ki the monks mastered, they were only ever able to alleviate it just enough for Juniper to live a relatively normal life…But he was never cured. 

When Juniper felt stress or worried, he could feel himself getting short of breath and his chest tightening up, but no flower petals fell from his mouth ever again, at least they wouldn’t if he kept up his training and mastered ki. 

The monks told him that the power of ki could help keep his illness at bay, but he would never be entirely cured and would likely live a short life, not unless his love for his father was requited…But Juniper could never find his father…

His life in the monastery was a lonely one, it became evident that while the monks had intentions on teaching Juniper their ways and having him officially become a monk alongside them, they were not very equipped to raise a child. 

Juniper had to put away his childish behavior very early, and that wasn’t too hard, as Juniper couldn’t exactly roughhouse or else he would become short of breath if exerted too far. 

Thenelis, the young monk who helped save him, had brought Juniper into the sacred room once he was slightly older. He wanted to talk with him…

“Juniper, I hope you know that we all care for you…But our life and yours don’t always intertwine.” Thenelis explained, “Many of us did away with material things when becoming Monks, that includes wives and children.”

“I know…” Juniper replied quietly. 

“I think you’re very qualified to be a monk. You’ve always been very mature despite your age, and you exceed well with the training we’ve given you. I think it’s true what Master Sylric says, I think you were chosen for this destiny.” 

“Destiny?” Juniper repeated, Thenelis directed his attention to a statue that stood proud in the middle of the sacred room, it resembled the creature that Juniper had seen on the day he was rescued. 

“This is the Great Ki-Rin. They are a benevolent creature that we serve as monks of this monastery. Ki-Rin very rarely appears, and only ever shows itself for something important…The Ki-Rin appeared the day your mother brought you here.” Thenelis explained, “From that day forward, you have been under the Ki-Rin’s protection as well as ours. We all think you have a great purpose here.” 

Juniper placed a hand on the statue Ki-Rin’s head, silently thanking it for helping it for its guidance. Had it not been there, the monks may not have noticed him and his mother…

“Master Sylric and I are hoping you could one day become a master at this monastery as well.” Thenelis added. 

“How? I’m still sick.” Juniper said, “You remember what Master said, I may not even life to see my 20s.” 

“With ki treatment and training you to master your ki, your life can be greatly increased! You shouldn’t give up on yourself, you’re still so young.” Thenelis placed a hand on Juniper’s shoulder, “With the Ki-Rin’s guidance, I believe one day you will be able to meet your dad, and I’m sure he will love you the second he sees you.” 

Juniper felt his chest tighten, he found it incredibly hard to breathe and yet he said nothing and accepted a hug from Thenelis. 

Right when Juniper believed that the love he got from the monks was the only love he’d ever need, that he could be cured by the love of others and not his father…The monks left. 

They said it was a short scavenging mission, they were leaving to look for herbs and other supplies they needed to help sustain a living. During these trips, all of the monks would leave Lotus Sanctum and seek out what nature had to offer them below the mountains. They often helped others as well. 

Juniper couldn’t go yet as he wasn’t done with training nor was he strong enough to leave the monastery, but he requested that they check on his old village, and to see if it was hopefully flourishing again after the tragedy. 

The monks agreed and left Juniper in charge to look after the monastery while they were gone.

They never returned…

Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months, and months turned into years. 

Juniper’s one saving grace that prevented him from collapsing due to isolation was his mission to take care of the monastery, but the empty monastery was a very lonely place to care for. 

His routine meditations grew longer and longer, lasting for days on end, he was training himself to connect to the power of ki as his suggested life-span was almost coming to an end. 

By 19 years old, Juniper had taken the time to stop and look around him. 

The monastery was huge and empty, he hadn’t so much as heard his own voice in years because he feared how it would echo off of the walls and remind him of just how alone in the world he was after all. 

He visited the Ki-Rin statue one last time before deciding that it was time to leave. 

He would return to care for the monastery again someday, hopefully when he has more time to live and with him more monks to help care for it. 

Juniper was determined to find someone, anyone, whether it be the lost monks, his lost father, or someone just as lost as he is.  
Juniper left the monastery, and with one last look, he saw the Ki-Rin looking down on him by the mountainside. 

That sign enough gave Juniper the confidence to step forward…

He never looked back.


End file.
